Spaghetti and Meatballs / Pesto Pasta

This is not a monumental recipe post. Just another entry in the log of what we ate for dinner this year. Not fancy, no pizazz. Just a good snow day meal.

For the kids and Steve: standard spaghetti and meatballs (garlic bread and green beans on the side).  For me: spaghetti with some pesto I made a couple weeks ago using a basic recipe; from the freezer (I can't eat the jarred stuff).

Not long ago, I did make some really good turkey/beef meatballs that were stuffed with mozzarella cheese (gooey on the inside). Will have to repeat that one sometime soon!

Owen's 2 cents:
 It was really good.

Gigi's 2 cents:
It was very good. It tasted like normal spaghetti and the meatballs tasted very good.

Stir-Fry Shrimp

Tonight's dinner was stir-fry shrimp, at least for the adults. The kids tried it, and then mostly had kid food - it was pretty spicy. Gigi and Camden both thought the shrimp was ok and did eat some. Here's the recipe I use for the stir-fry sauce; I like it because it makes enough to freeze at least half (of the sauce only) for another future quick meal.

Blintzes, balsamic brussels sprouts, and Grammy applesauce

Another busy evening with the husband at a late meeting, another quick dinner. Blintzes -- frozen, from a box -- have been a staple for us since Boston (it was a long seven years in Iowa where I couldn't find them in stores!). They are super quick and saute up in minutes. This is another example of something Owen doesn't love but will eat, very grudgingly. I used to buy the blueberry kind for just him but he realized those are kinda syrupy and gross and lives with our cheese kind now instead.

This brussels sprouts recipe is new to me, and I think this is my first time making brussels sprouts ever! We hosted a potluck a few weeks ago and a friend brought some that were like candy, they tasted so good. I still need to get her recipe. I've been inspired ever since. I basically followed this recipe but used my own seasoning blends instead of the salt. The kids had to try them... they chose steamed peas as an alternative after their taste.

Grammy applesauce isn't so much a "recipe" as it is a jar of unsweetened applesauce mixed with a container of thawed berries-in-syrup and some sliced bananas. The kids always love this (hold the bananas for Gigi).

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa

Today was one of those days where dinner was a bit of a scramble with Steve having a late dinner meeting and all three kids needing me at once for various things. I made this Roasted Vegetable Quinoa, primarily for myself though the kids had to try it. They then had hot dogs, fresh vegetables, and berries.

As predicted, they were not huge fans of the quinoa. Gigi was the most positive, saying "I could have eaten a bowl of it but I would prefer not to." Honestly? I wasn't a huge fan either. I saw early on it was going to be super bland as the recipe was written so I seasoned the heck out of it, adding fresh basil that was leftover from last week's recipes and then a bunch of pantry seasonings, even a cajun blend. No dice. I've made a half dozen Pinterest quinoa recipes over the last few months, and they've mostly been REALLY good. This one is edible but nothing to write home about. And I have a trough of it in the fridge to eat, since planning for portions is not my specialty.

And this cooking blog is off to a bang ;)

Tacos

I can hear it already... "she starts a meal prep/cooking blog and she makes TACOS?!?" How incredibly unoriginal. Sorry, it was coming sooner than later... happens to be Genevieve's favorite meal (she often puts away 3-4 jumbo shell tacos, 5-6 if they are the regular size.). Pretty standard stuff here. I use this low-sodium recipe for the meat seasoning and make it in bulk for the pantry. I started doing that out of necessity since I couldn't do the sodium in the usual old packets but the flavor of this is much better, and it's also cheaper. Shells are corn with zero sodium. Normal toppings -- black beans (lo-so from a can), tomatoes, lettuce, avocado, shredded cheese, sour cream. Made some cilantro-lime rice for the side (that's my blue plate that has the ridiculous amount of cilantro... everyone else goes a bit more mild on it).

What was monumental tonight was, we told Owen, enough was enough and he was going to TRY a taco. Like, more than a mouse bite. All we put in his was the shell, meat, and cheese. He does like chili (an anomaly) and my chili seasoning is not all that different from the taco meat flavors. It was a ton of hemming and hawing but he did put away about 1/4 of a jumbo taco. Baby steps. And he liked the cilantro rice better than Gigi did!

Sweet-and-Sour Chicken Thighs with Carrots

So, dinner from tonight. Sweet-and-Sour Chicken Thighs with Carrots is not a new recipe to our family; I've made it maybe 3-4 times per year since my good friend Rachel in Iowa originally made it for us in early 2012 when I was pregnant with #3 and having that annoying raw chicken cooking aversion. She brought it over for dinner one night and it was well received by all... definitely worthy of adding to the rotation. It has a really succulent cinnamon odor that smells amazing when cooking. It's pretty much called "Rachel Chicken" around here.

 

This recipe does call for a good bit of salt. I have to omit all of it, replacing some with Mrs Dash and otherwise boosting the other flavors -- cinnamon, pepper, garlic, etc. I also usually make it with boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of bone-in. It cooks faster and is easier to cut up and serve. Otherwise I follow everything else to a "T". Served over rice and alongside some raw carrots for the kids (they still aren't into the cooked variety) it's a good meal and makes good freezer leftovers too.

I'll let the big kids add their commentary to this post later when they're ready for bed... this may not be a FAVORITE for them but they both eat it without too much hemming and hawing. 

Gigi's 2 cents:

The chicken was good because it tasted like Regular. Chicken. The cinnamon is very interesting on the chicken. 

Owen's 2 cents:

It was bad. Too much cinnamon. Not something I would choose to have again.

Editor's Note: 

It will be had again. He usually likes it a tiny bit more each time.

 

Catching up: Creamy Skillet Mac n Cheese

Ok people, the Creamy Skillet Mac & Cheese was a huge hit around these parts. HUGE. This is another, "it's-not-great-for-you-but-let's-serve-it-alongside-an-enormous-pile-of-steamed-broccoli that the kids actually do eat" type of win. Here's how it looked:

I

Aside from omitting the salt (my bad ears) I did not alter this in any way. I didn't cut it down to skim milk. I didn't use whole grain pasta like I more typically do. I didn't throw in a Jessica Seinfeld style container of frozen butternut squash. I simply... let it be. And it was DELICIOUS. Steve came home late for dinner that night and I am (sort of) ashamed to admit I rationed his portion to make sure all 3 kids could have it for lunch again the next day. Never made it to the freezer.

Really easy meal and not any harder than the Kraft blue box.

Owen's 2 cents:

 Delicious. It was sooo cheesy (that is most definitely a good thing).   

Gigi's 2 cents:

Awesome. I liked it because it was very cheesy and it was very creamy.

 

 

Catching up: Baked Fish Sticks

So the kids love boxed crappy fish sticks and Genevieve has been after me to make some "from homemade." I tried my hand at this very easy Baked Fish Sticks recipe.I omitted the salt and added some more garlic powder and italian seasoning blend.

Here's what it looked like:

What you are looking at: I had bought a bag of previously frozen cod for the sticks. The bag was opaque, and after defrosting it, I opened it that night and found WAY less fish in there than I had expected. There wasn't enough for the whole family, so I had to supplement with the crappy boxed stuff I still had in the freezer. That's what's on the bottom pan.

It will not surprise anyone with kids to know that although my kids ate both, they strongly preferred the box crap. Actually, I don't think Camden ate either -- he was on a food strike that night and I think stuck to a few bites of whatever sides we had. Steve and I thought the homemade were way better than the boxed (I can't eat the boxed anymore due to the sodium.... but they smelled as gross as I remember!).

Gigi's 2 cents:

OK. They more tasted like fish. They’re nothing compared to the boxed kind.

Owen's 2 cents:
OK. They were a bit too fishy, but still OK. I preferred the boxed kind.

Catching up: Cream of Broccoli Soup

Made Cream Of Broccoli Soup last week. It was a step up in the health department compared to the other Cream-Of soups I've made recently. Not as terribly cream/butter heavy.

Family review: I thought it was a bit close to a baby food puree, though I did try to leave some big broccoli chunks in there. Not my favorite, but I will definitely eat the freezer leftovers. Camden likes it a lot (then again, he still eats toddler pouches). The big kids didn't much care for it and it got an "ok" from the husband.

Gigi's 2 cents:

I did not like the broccoli soup because the only flavor I could taste was broccoli and it needed more flavor. Plus, it needed some seasoning and I’m not a fan of broccoli.

Owen's 2 cents:
I’m debating which was worse: this or the mushroom soup.